A SUMMARY**In light of the most recent government guidance on the coronavirus, we have decided to cancel all public events until further notice, including 'How to Make a Herbarium' originally scheduled for 10th May. The course will be rescheduled for a later date, yet to be decided.**
Making a herbarium is exciting and rewarding, as each plant you press provides you with a valuable experience, allowing you to connect closely with plants through observing and working with them, and this helps you to understand and remember them in a way that is never possible from just reading a book or listening to a lecture.
Herbarium preparation is a three-part process: collecting, pressing and drying, and mounting. Come and explore this process with Niki Lawrence for a hands-on, herbarium training day at Emerson College.
HERBARIUM TRAINING DAY ITINERARY
Morning session:
After an introduction to herbarium preparation, we aim to venture out into the garden to find suitable flowering plants. We will be recording important details about each plant, such as its form, size, surrounding habitat and companion plants, and noting its location. We will then careful collect plant specimens (only those that are plentiful and not at risk of overharvesting) and I will show you how to place these in a herbarium press.
Afternoon session:
I will first demonstrate how to arrange and glue dried specimens onto mounting sheets, together with attaching labels and fragment packets. Then it will be your turn! I will provide each of you with a range of previously dried plant specimens to choose from, so that you can practice mounting it on official herbarium quality paper provided for you. We will finish up the day with each of you being given example herbarium specimen sheets for you to evaluate which is an excellent way for learning the dos and donts with herbarium preparation.
The aim of this training is to provide you with the knowledge and experience to be able to learn to produce herbarium voucher specimens up to a quality and standard recognised by official herbariums around the world. Connecting and discussing the plants will be an added bonus to this learning of course!
The workshop will take place in the Emerson gardens, library and Foundation room.
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Accommodation
If you need to stay overnight, you can book and pay for a single room accommodation on the Emerson web site at http://www.emerson.org.uk/calendar
Book early to ensure a place on campus! Emerson College provides accommodation on campus in student style single rooms, equipped with a bed, bedding, towels, a desk and a wardrobe. Showers/toilets are shared. All student houses have simple kitchens where you can prepare your own meals, if you prefer. We are unable to organise accommodation for families, but we have a list of housing agents who may be able to help you if you would like to stay in the village or the Ashdown Forest.